Arguably the greatest engineer who ever lived, Nikola Tesla developed alternating current electricity, was the first to demonstrate short range wireless communication through radio; the first to demonstrate wireless energy transfer to power electronic devices; the first in the USA to prove the concept of hydroelectric power by building a hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls; the first to demonstrate a brushless induction motor; the first to record radio waves from outer space; the discoverer of the resonant frequency of the earth, an early pioneer of X-Rays and much else besides.

A Serbian by birth, Tesla applied to work for Edison armed with a reference from his employer which read: "I know two great men and you are one of them; and the other is this young man.".................and a link from a comment:http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla